Al Jazira completed the contract for the four clubs that qualified for the semi-finals of the Professional League Cup competition (Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Football Cup), after yesterday, they overcame Al Ain on penalty kicks 4-2, after tying the two matches on aggregate 3-3.
Al Jazira had lost the first leg at Al Ain Stadium with an unanswered goal, and came back to win at home 3-2, with direct kicks being decided by Al Jazira.
Al Ain scored early after Sufyan Rahimi took advantage of a mistake by Al Jazira player Jassama in clearing the ball, passing it to Laba Kodjo, who played it intelligently over the goalkeeper. It bounced off the crossbar, and Khalid Al Balushi completed it in the goal (12).
But Al Jazira was able to come back from afar, and Ramon Merez scored the equalizing goal for them, with a shot he fired from the outskirts of the “25” box.
Al Ain returned to score the lead goal through Sufyan Rahimi after being alone with the goal, but the video technology (the mouse) intervened and canceled the goal, due to a foul on his teammate Laba Kodjo in the middle of the field (38).
Before the end of the first half, Vinicius Melo was able to score the lead goal for Al Jazira with a precise shot, which the Al Ain goalkeeper was unable to stop (45 + 5).
Al Jazira exploited its advantage in the second half, and Ramon Merez was able to score his second personal goal and the third for his team, after diverting Vinicius Melo’s cross into the goal (71).
But Al Ain refused to surrender to the loss, and substitute Matteo Sanabria was able to score the goal to reduce the difference with a distinguished individual effort “90 + 5”.
At Al Shamkha Stadium, Al Wasl clinched its qualification for the semi-finals following a goalless draw with host Baniyas, benefiting from a 3-1 first-leg win at Zabeel Stadium.
The match was below average, as “Fahd Zabeel” was the party that reached the goal the most, in contrast to “Al Samawi,” which did not have any reaction that reflected its intentions to make up for the difference of the two goals that it missed in the first leg.
Al-Wasl put pressure at the beginning of the first half, and Al-FAR intervened to cancel the decision of assistant referee Amal Jamal to award a goal scored by Sufyan Bouftini in the 14th minute, after a corner kick he received inside the area, and headed it into the net without being monitored by the Baniyas defense.
Al Wasl’s advantage continued in the second half, as substitute Caio Canedo also scored a goal and it was disallowed due to an offside case.
Thus, Al-Jazira will meet Al-Wasl, and Shabab Al-Ahly will meet Al-Sharjah in the semi-finals, the date of which has not been officially set by the Professional League.
. Al Jazira defeated Al Ain in the return match… and imposed a penalty shootout scenario.
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